
‘Peacemaker’ – ‘Monkey Dory’ – Review
The saga of James Gunn’s Peacemaker keeps rolling forward and every time you think you know where this narrative is going, Gunn switches things up and throws in a curveball way out of left field, and you’re completely shocked as to what just happens. More curveballs are on the way in Episode Five ‘Monkey Dory’ and things get messy.
Now set as a working unit, Christopher SMith/Peacemaker and Task Force X take the next step to combat the threat of the ‘Butterflies’ by hitting a processing plant for their food supply. Armed to the teeth and ready to rock n’roll, Peacemaker the team set out to make a dent in the butterflies plans and things certainly get crazy in the process. Meanwhile, Evergreen Police Detective Sophie Song () is narrowing down on the truth of the events of who really killed Annie Sturphausen and she’s got Peacemaker in her sights.
Week by week, writer, director and cinematic genius James Gunn has been delivering one of the most fun television experiences that we’ve had for a long time with the outlandish and wildly over-the-top superhero series Peacemaker. And Episode Five, ‘Monkey Dory’ is again another excellent addition to the series. Gunn hands over director duties to Rosemary Rodriguez for this episode and she really goes to work with an episode that focuses on the unison of Peacemaker’s mission with the rest of Project Butterfly. Zeroing in on a distillery plant that is of vital importance to the butterflies, Peacemaker and his crew go to work and damn does it get wild and crazy.
If you’re wanting to see John Cena go to work with a pump-action shotgun as he blasts his way through butterfly infected humans, well you’ve got it. With a trusty new helmet that gives him the advantage of x-ray vision, and the ability to deduce who exactly the butterflies actually are, Cena pumps some serious lead and the gore factor is high in ‘Monkey Dory’. This is Gunn re-visiting his formative splatter laced years at Troma Entertainment and the result is a crazy bonanza of exploding body parts with lashings of gore thrown in. Rodriguez levels up the craziness of the whole assault when Peacemaker and Project Butterfly have to take on ‘Charlie’, the ‘Butterflies’ so-called ‘guardian’ and only a mind as creatively radical as James Gunn could come up with a villain like this to take on Peacemaker. And it’s a showdown that’s freaking wild to watch.
‘Monkey Dory’ is fully focused on the actions of John Cena’s Peacemaker and Project Butterfly and the underlying theme of this episode is teamwork. From the very start of this series, Peacemaker has been at odds with the remnants of Project Butterfly and them with him. While he’s tried to bed Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt, teased the hell out of Steve Agee’s John Economos and put up with the presence of Danielle Brooks’ Leota Adebayo, this is the first time where Peacemaker actually feels like he’s part of something bigger than himself and the events of their assault on the distillery are almost a team-building exercise. I mean a team-building exercise with added buckets of gore, but you get the point. It’s the first time that we see this group of people come together and celebrate working with one another and it’s a moment that is sure to leave a smile on your face.
Long time fans of James Gunn will also know that he’s a music fanatic who puts a lot of his heart and soul into the soundtrack of his series and Peacemaker has been no exception. 1980s hair metal power ballads have been a core staple of this series to date and for Gunn ‘Monkey Dory’ appears to be a very special episode as he delves into Peacemaker’s backstory and his love for classic hair metal band Hanoi Rocks. As an originator of the hair metal genre, they have a very big place in Peacemaker’s heart and another member of Project Butterfly also holds them up in high regard. This shared love of music is an important thematic element of this episode of Peacemaker and it’s in this moment that we see the goodness shower down on Peacemaker.
But what do they say about good times, they never last and in the climactic final moments of this episode a solid left hook from Gunn is thrown at audiences and the truth is laid bare for one very important character! You think you knew what was happening in Peacemaker…think again.
Peacemaker is available on Neon and Sky Go
Image: SKY TV